The invention relates to a transport system for shipping biological samples, more particularly for shipping of samples which are investigated in microbiological diagnosis.
Microbiological samples, e.g. smears, are taken from patients by means of swabs. Such specimens often cannot be processed immediately, either for reasons of space or time, and have to be sent to an investigation laboratory. It is therefore desirable to be able to transfer the specimens to a transport system which reliably complies with the following conditions:
The life of the bacteria contained in the microbiological samples must be maintained. For this purpose they have to be protected, more particularly, from drying out, atmospheric oxygen, and their own toxic metabolic products.
The original biological composition of the samples must be maintained. For example, in the case of mixed cultures, one species must be prevented from growing over another.
The environment must be protected from escape of the specimens during transport. For this purpose it is particularly important to protect the sample container from breakage.
For further processing the samples, the transport system must allow reliable and clean removal of the sample in the investigating laboratory.
A known microorganism transport system is marketed by Merck, Darmstadt, Federal Republic of Germany, under the name Transgerm (Trade Mark). This system consists basically of a small glass tube having a screw closure and containing a medium for the transport of a sample, and a swab packed under sterile conditions. When this system is used, the swab rod has to be broken off after the sample has been taken, so that the swab has a suitable length for insertion into the glass tube and shipment, e.g. by post, in the closed glass tube. To facilitate swab handling, the glass tube screw closure has an elongate cylindrical chamber into which the free end of the swab rod can be pushed after the rod has been broken off. The main disadvantage of this known transport system is that it does not provide any means of protecting the glass tube from breakage. The necessity to break off the swab rod each time makes the use of this system relatively complicated.
The aim of the invention is to provide a transport system which satisfies all the above requirements.